William Gadsby
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William Gadsby (1773-1844) was a hymnwriter and Baptist pastor.
[edit] Biography
For 38 years Gadsby was pastor of the Strict Baptist church at Manchester and a well-known minister in his day. He travelled over 60,000 miles, many of them on foot and preached nearly 12,000 sermons. He was influential in establishing 40 new places of worship.
He compiled a selection of hymns including many of his own composition and the whole collection of hymns by Joseph Hart, and published them in a hymnbook, A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship (or Gadsby's Hymns), which is still used by congregations today. His best known hymn being 'Immortal Honours'.
With his son John, he launched in 1835 the Gospel Standard magazine and was its first editor.
John also commenced another magazine called the Friendly Companion which he originated in 1857 and is still in circulation.
A number of William Gadsby's sermons are extant.
